Modesty Discourses: Central Asia and the Caucasus

(988 words)

“Men can do what they like, and so can Russian women, but not
we Muslim women. We have to keep our legs and heads covered. It is a sin
for us to expose them in the street. In the past, Muslim women veiled
their faces but even today we cannot leave the house without permission
and must not be alone with a man except our husbands, whom we must obey
in all things.” This statement from
Tajikistan
speaks to the way popular discourse shapes the construction of
hierarchical differences between the sexes through the enforcement of
female modesty practices.